M: „Shit. I think my tooth filling fell out last night.“
C: „What, are you serious?“
M: „Well, let’s have breakfast first. I’ll have a look afterwards.“
C: „Do you want a pancake? Or maybe rather something soft? Oh shit if it really fell out. Would be exactly what we didn’t want to happen. A tooth problem in India or Indonesia.“
M: „Ok I’ll have a look later on.“

Half an hour later
M: „Ok, the filling is out. Shit, we have to go Kuala Lumpur.“
C: „Wait a sec. Let’s think about what the best solution is. Here or Kuala Lumpur or Singapore.“

One hour and a talk with an Indonesian tourist, a Dutchman and our host later
M: „Ok, we try it here. Not on the neighbor island. And if the filling doesn’t hold, then we have to go to Malaysia or Singapore.“
C: „Do you have the scooter keys? Did you search the military hospital on Google Maps?“

On hour later in Sabang, still on Pulau Weh, the same island. In the military hospital.
M: „Hello. Do you have a dentist? Yes, tooth is problem. Yes, we wait for dentist.”

The dentist is called. On an advertising board I read what he can do. The Dr. Thomas. Teeth whitening, fillings, crowns, no inlays, no implants. But professional tooth cleaning and sticking stars on it. And braces. All right, then.
C: “I wouldn’t use painkillers in case of doubt.”
M: “Why? I always like it when I don’t notice anything. Besides, then the dentist can work in peace.”
C: “Yes, let’s see how clean it is here. We don’t know how well they sterilize the needles here.”
M: “What diseases could I get?”
C: “Well, for example, hepatitis B and C and HIV.”

Dr. Thomas comes on a moped in his yellow Minion T-shirt. He apologizes for not wearing a uniform, he just came from home. We talk outside for a while until his dental assistant arrives. Then we enter the treatment room. I’m excited as well. I hate dentists. I’ve hated them since I was a kid. And, oh, it all looks very modern. Dr. Thomas works with gloves and mouthguards. Without pain injection. He explains why the filling cannot last forever and that it should soon be replaced by a crown. Then he grinds off the tooth. I only feel a little nauseous. And done. With the latest technology.
We want to pay. But Dr. Thomas would like to invite us to this treatment. Everyone on this island has health insurance which covers these things. Yes, but we don’t have insurance here, we have one in Germany. It’ll pay for it. Please, give us a bill. “All right,” says Dr. Thomas. “Then you pay. 100,000 rupiah (€6), please. And apologies for any inconvenience.” And then we are kindly asked to leave the treatment room.

Six days and three dives later. The filling holds. Hairstyle’s good.